The Path to Isolation
by fatefulfaerie
Summary: A broken family around her and an uncertain future before her, Weiss Schnee finds herself doubting everything. She wants more than anything to wrangle herself from her fathers' control and to make her own choices, but is that even possible when she's lost herself in the storm?


Weiss Schnee took a deep breath as she stood outside her father's study, clutching the pamphlet she held.

She knew that the conversation that would ensue once she stepped through that door into the cold air of that study was an inevitable one.

Yet, she had put it off so long that her father had now summoned her.

She shook her head at the thought.

The last thing she wanted to do was walk through the door before her.

Her hand was shaky as she extended it forward, eventually calming herself with an exhale as she turned the doorknob.

"Ah, Weiss," her father said as she closed the door, trying not to shiver at the sudden burst of cold air.

"Hello, Father," she said when she faced him, standing as straight as she could with her hands behind her back, "you summoned me."

"Yes, yes, take a seat," he said with a motion of his hand before he returned them to clasp together, resting themselves on his desk.

Weiss sat down, keeping her back straight as best she could, waiting patiently and respectfully for his next words.

"I trust your examinations are going well," he inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Father," she replied almost militantly with a quick nod of her head.

"Well, there's really no point in delaying it," he said after an odd silence, "you know I tire of small talk. I've called you here because I must inform you that in light of her recent promotion, your sister has…relinquished her claim as heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."

Weiss' brow gave a slight furrow in pondering before her father continued,

"Which is why I have decided to entail it upon you."

Her eyes lit up with surprise.

"Father…I'm honored, but…I want to continue studying as a huntress. I've started to prepare for the entrance exams to get into an Academy."

"Weiss, you know you don't have to follow in your sister's footsteps. I know I've expressed my interest in a Schnee being a prominent user of dust, an example to the people of Remnant, but I wouldn't want you to get, well…"

"Distracted," he said slowly.

"Of course," Weiss replied, trying to hide, to subdue the hesitation festering inside her.

"I suppose I see no problem with you continuing your studies at Atlas Academy," he continued in her silence, "you can still uphold your obligation as a Schnee, and as the heiress to the company. That is, of course, until you grow up and realize that there is a world outside of the life of a huntress, especially for a Schnee."

"Do you understand?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Yes, Father," she replied, her head going downcast in submission before her hands found each other, a reminder to herself of the pamphlet she held, "but I…"

Her father's eyes furrowed at her apparent hesitation.

"I…I want to study somewhere else," she finally blurted out as she held up her head.

"What…" Jacques said in disbelief.

"Beacon Academy," she said, her voice becoming more timid with each word.

"Vale?" he retorted with a clear disgust, "Nonsense, you will study here, in Atlas."

"But Father, I…I've never been outside the kingdom before."

"Why waste your time with Vale when Atlas is clearly superior?" he asked, obviously not understanding how anyone could arrive at such a decision, "Do you not value the hard work that has been put into making Atlas the model society that it is today? The work this family has put on to bolster this kingdom to the heights of prosperity."

"I know Father, but…isn't that something I need to discover for myself? To see the world instead of just hear about it? What kind of person would I be if I only ever saw something from one perspective?"

Weiss watched as her father hastily stood up from his chair, the fear in her eyes apparent.

He walked until stopping near the other side of the room, keeping his silence as he stood stagnant, facing away from his daughter.

"I'll think on this matter and get back to you. Until then, I want you think about your responsibility as an heiress, the legacy that I have left, and the honor you must uphold. Running a company like this is about profit. There is no place for the showmanship of being a huntress in the real world. This is a business, not a fantasy, and there is no place to satiate selfishness. Entering the real world is about growing up and, especially for you, growing past frivolity and delusion. This company and this kingdom works on a larger and, if I'm to be honest, a more substantial scale than professional huntsmen scattered in decreasing numbers throughout the rest of Remnant. If you honestly believe going to Vale will teach you that, then perhaps I will seriously consider Beacon Academy."

"Thank you, Father," Weiss said timidly as she stood up.

"You may take your leave," he said, prompting Weiss to head towards the door and push it open.

After slowly latching it closed, her back met its' surface, letting out a held exhale.

That wasn't the worst it could have gone.

Then again, it wasn't the best.

"Beacon Academy?" a familiar voice said, Weiss turning with a smile to her butler.

"Klein."

"I had hoped you would choose that one," said Klein with a distinct twinkle in his yellow eyes.

"I'm afraid it's less of a matter of a choice and more of a…suggestion," Weiss said, her expression going sad.

Klein only smiled.

"Only if you see it that way, Little Snowflake."

Weiss' blue eyes lit up at the thought.

"Although," the butler continued, "I'll be sad to see you go."

"Thank you, Klein," she said, so much more empathetically, and so much more genuinely than when she said the same words to her father just moments ago.

"Would you like anything Miss Schnee?" he asked, "Some coffee, perhaps?"

"Maybe later…" she said as she averted her glance, her left hand finding the elbow of her other arm.

"Very well," Klein said before bowing and heading off past her, Weiss watching him depart.

She walked forward in the now empty hallway, the clunking of her heeled boots echoing along the corridor.

Yet, if not for her, there most assuredly would have been silence, a silence she knew well at that. There was always an emptiness in the house at least somewhere that reflected the one in her soul.

Even with Whitley and her father, that emptiness had grown since Winter left.

And, if at all possible, it had gotten colder in the manor, even though the rays outside the blue-tinted windows teased summer, teased a world of freedom she could only hope to someday be a part of.

Her steps slowed as the scent of the garden drew nearer, walking forward with hesitation until she turned a corner, her hand meeting a stone column as she stopped.

Her expression sank at the sight before her.

She had seen it before, many times before in fact, but it had been a while since she summoned the courage to seek it out.

Weiss took a deep breath before walking cautiously to meet it.

"Mom," she said as she approached the woman, who sat on an elegant white chair, her head laying on her arms and her eyes closed.

The bottle of wine was just next to her on the table her head laid on.

Not even a glass to pace herself.

Her beautiful blue dress, adorned with lace, the jewelry that accented it, the garden of white roses around her, and the sunlight that beamed upon her was an unsettling contrast to her condition as her daughter knelt in front of her.

"Mom…?" Weiss repeated softly.

"Winter…" her mother mumbled in response, "Winter, this will only make things worse…"

"Mom…it's," Weiss started as she placed a hand on her mother's shoulder, "it's not Winter, it's me…it's Weiss."

"Weiss…" her mother repeated, the apathetic way her mother said her name making her tear up.

There was no familiarity in it, no warmth.

Weiss blinked away the water in her eyes as she stood back up, moving her hand to gently caress her mothers' cheek.

"I love you, Mom," she said.

There was no response as Weiss backed away, her mother's blue eyes opening to slits.

Dull and unmoving, so unlike the waves of an ocean, unlike even the ripple of a puddle on a rainy day.

It was as if the lively body of water that once inhabited them was frozen over.

Weiss tried to remember as she turned around, the softness she saw in them when her mother would tell stories to her as a seven-year old, the pride she saw in them after her first recital when she was eight, or the joy when the little nine-year old unlocked her semblance.

She couldn't deny that those memories were fading.

Not even sadness was there anymore, the anger and betrayal when Jacques admitted that he only married her for the family name, the money, the status.

Her mother had loved him once.

And when Weiss was ten, he broke her mother's heart.

It was all a lie, and her family was torn apart because of it.

Weiss was fourteen when her sister Winter told her that the damage was irreparable, to try as hard as she could to live her own life and not her father's, that it's what her mother would have wanted.

Wanted.

As if she were dead.

That was when Winter enlisted in the Atlas military, Weiss not fully understanding her meaning in what her sister said.

"Weiss," she heard behind her, ushered out of her contemplation, her delve into her past, everything that led her here, to this very garden.

Weiss turned around, surprised her mother was addressing her.

"I like your hair like that," she said drowsily before entering back into an alcohol-induced slumber.

Weiss' lips made the slightest curve as she turned back around and headed out of the garden.

At seventeen, small acts of defiance started to bring her closer to claiming her life as her own.

What started with an asymmetrical ponytail, just a few inches of rebellion and such a simple change, would eventually amount to the lifestyle of a huntress, fighting against an evil that the kingdom of Atlas and the Schnee Dust Company readily turns a blind eye to.

But, of course, for now she walked lonely in the Schnee mansion, worried that she would never leave, that her life was decided for her since birth.

And, worried that her family was broken apart by the same man who now held her future in his hands.

Perhaps it was time to change that, to leave the Schnee family legacy the way she wanted to, and not the way her father wanted her to.

But, Weiss couldn't help but fear that because of that perhaps she would never have the family she wanted, a family that didn't use her like some tool, a family that loved her back, a family that truly felt like home. Perhaps she was destined to be alone, to become so accustomed to loneliness that she pushes away any chance of companionship, of warmth.

And, yes, to some she was cold, her chilly exterior her own defense against any show of warmth, creating a loneliness that only she knew.

The only warmth she had ever been given was either born out of manipulation or died quickly in the face of tribulation. She learned quickly, as a result, and unfortunately, as a habit, to push people away.

On first impression, students at Beacon would quickly label her as distant and cold, that she cared less about others and more about perfection, status, and grades.

It wasn't entirely her fault that she strived to be the best, the brightest, the smartest. Her excelling at Beacon was a safeguard for her success, knowing greatly that failure would result in a fathers' disapproval. A ticket back to Atlas where she was scolded by not only her father, but herself as well, for dreaming to big and thinking too much about independence.

She feared greatly and regularly that she had become too dependent on her father and on the Schnee family name, and that it would be her undoing.

Perhaps it really was too late for her to pursue a life that she chose, to be proud of a life to call her own, to leave a legacy in her own way. After all, if everyone at Beacon saw her the way people see her father, perhaps he had truly won at his game. Perhaps she was truly unlovable, her heart frozen over just like her mom.

Little did she know, walking alone in the Schnee mansion, thinking about her uncertain future, that she would find a home in three other girls, who would grow to love her more than she knew she needed.


End file.
